Make an Elephant Fountain

Materials you'll need

• Empty plastic bottle with cap
• Purple construction paper (enough to wrap the bottle, plus 2 ear shapes)
• Purple bendy straw
• Googly eyes
• Tape or glue
• Water

 

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1: Grab an empty plastic bottle with its cap.

Step 2: Wrap purple paper around the body of the bottle and secure it. This becomes your elephant's head and body.

Step 3: Poke a hole through the paper and into the side of the bottle, a little below where the ears will go. This is where your elephant's trunk will attach.

Step 4: Cut a bendy straw down so you're left with just the flexible, accordion section, then push it into the hole to make the trunk.

Step 5: Glue on two ears and two googly eyes to finish decorating your elephant's face.

Step 6: Take the cap off, pinch the straw closed with your fingers, and fill the bottle all the way to the top with water.

Step 7: Screw the cap back on tightly, then let go of the straw.

Step 8: Hold your elephant over a cup, then twist the cap open just a little and closed again. Watch the water squirt from the trunk each time you loosen it.

Learn more

This fountain works thanks to air pressure — the invisible push of air that surrounds everything on Earth. When you screw the cap on tight, no air can sneak into the bottle to replace the water leaving through the trunk, so the air pressure outside actually holds the water in place, hole and all! But loosen the cap even a little, and air rushes in through the threads to fill that space. That breaks the seal, and now gravity and air pressure team up to push the water down and out through the straw trunk. Tighten the cap again, and the flow stops instantly.